Topic: Teachers as Technicians

10-second review: Why are teachers NOT technicians? “This research perspective affords a close look at the complexities of the teacher’s role in both leading and empowering students, and therefore validates teachers at a time when they are often simply viewed as technicians.” See “Comment” below.

Source: P Whitin. Research in the Teaching of English (May 2005), 365. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: I’m not sure that this explanation makes clear why teachers are professionals, not technicians. A teacher becomes a technician when he or she follows a prepared script for teaching reading. In a sense, when teachers use basal readers to teach reading, they are technicians. However, teachers are professionals when they make decisions. In a relatively short time, elementary teachers learn to modify the use of the basal and provide other materials, whole books, for example, in developing students’ reading skills.

When students are having difficulty in learning to read, teachers choose from a variety of methods to help students overcome their reading difficulties. Then they are professionals. They are professionals when they diagnose the nature of a learning problem and choose from a variety of techniques in order to solve the learning problem. RayS.

Topic: Strategies

10-second review: What do we mean by “strategies” in learning? Focus on teaching children strategies to use when they read and write. What strategy will students use, for example, when they summarize a book? See “Comment” below.

Source: KR Mehigan. Reading Teacher (March 2005), 552-566. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Comment: That is, what steps will they take in order to summarize? They will read the passage and underline the key words, then put the key words into a few sentences that produce the essence of the meaning.

An example of a word, “summary,” that “everyone is expected to do,” but no one ever tells you how to do it. RayS.

Topic: Problems with Educational Research

10-second review: Translating educational research into classroom practice that improves student performance.

Source: BM Taylor, et al. Reading Research Quarterly (January/February/March 2005), 40-41. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Comment: “Improves student performance” is the key. So is "translating." RayS.

Topic: "Profession" and "Professional" Defined

10-second review: How define a “professional”? Abraham Flexner (1915) on defining a profession: A profession involves essentially intellectual operations with large individual responsibility; derives raw materials from science and learning; works this material up to a practical and definite end.

Source: WA Jenkins. “A Sense of Profession.” 519.

Comment: Therefore, a professional uses intellectual operations based on science and learning, has individual responsibility with results that are practical. RayS.

Topic: Parents

10-second review: How involve parents in their children’s education? Give parents suggested activities for follow up at home on what is being taught in the classroom.

Source: S Darling. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 476-479. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Topic: Editing

10-second review: In addition to a class handbook for writing and editing, keep a stock of individual handbooks that have special features helpful for different problems in learning to write.

Source: SK Miller-Cochran. Teaching in the Two-Year College (March 2007), 335. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: One way to use the sample texts that sales people give you or are sent to you by publishing companies. RayS.

Topic: Writing Assignments

10-second review: 1. Students complete an “Op-ed” piece. Should include a description of the problem and a solution. 2. Students view film together, then review it. Note on what they agree and what they don’t. 3. Students write an essay modeled on Newsweek’s “My Turn.” 4. “Trendsetter’s Composition.” Students report on a trend they have observed, with examples.

Source: K Strasma. Teaching English in the Two-Year College (March. 2007), 259-261. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Topic: Censorship of the Internet

One-minute review: How define the role of on-line services? Publisher or library? For what it’s worth, I cannot see how on-line services could be called “publishers.” Publishers’ control over publications is exacting, for the purpose of selling a particular product by a particular author. Control of the content of materials published is the source of tension between author and publisher throughout the process, with authors often submitting to ‘suggested’ changes. Further, the publisher actively markets the materials in their finished form. The purpose of the publisher is to sell the materials submitted for publication.

The purpose of individual members of on-line services is to express their opinions. The online service is not actively involved in helping the member sell the opinions expressed. RayS.

Topic: Censorship

10-second review: Newt Gingrich: How do you maintain the right of freedom of speech for adults while also protecting children in a medium which is available to both?

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer (July 30, 1995), c1/c8.

Comment: The issue in pornography on TV and on the Internet. RayS.

Topic: Censorship

10-second review: Objectionable words online. American Online has decided to reject certain words used in its online network, including “breast.” Reversed their decision when cancer societies objected. “Body parts that might be named in medical diagnoses do not fall under the category of offensive online communication.”

Philadelphia Inquirer. (December 2, 1995), A2.

Comment: The issue is highlighted by Newt Gingrich in tomorrow’s blog. RayS.

Topic: Censorship

10-second review: “Indecency” defined. “Language or material that, in context, depicts or describes in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs.”

Source: Wall Street Journal (December 15, 1995), A2.

Comment: The sticking point is how to define “community standards.” RayS.

Topic: Advice on Writing

10-second review: “And if I had a single word of caution to give to people who want to write, it would be that writing, does not get easier to do as you get better at it—it gets harder and harder.”

Title: “From a Letter by Joseph Hansen.” Joseph Hansen. The Writer (September 1973), 16. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Comment: With every new writing situation, I feel as if I am learning to write all over again. RayS.

Topic: Why Write?

10-second review: “People write for many reasons: To share experiences, to help themselves understand what is happening, to record information and to communicate ideas. Few people write simply for the sake of learning to write better ‘next time.’ ”

Title: “Writing for the Here and Now: An Approach to Assessing Student Writing.” English Journal (January 1973), 69-79. The secondary school publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: Now that I think of it, most of my writing assignments had the purpose of sharing experiences. That’s a pretty limited choice of purposes. RayS.

Topic: College Graduates and Writing

10-second review: In 1965, this research showed that 10% of college graduates in the Naval Officers Training School were seriously deficient in writing. I wonder what the percentage is today, 2009?

Title: “English Proficiency at the U.S. Naval Officer Candidate School.” College English (November 1965), 140-144. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: 10% of college grads attending Officer’s Candidate School are seriously deficient in composition. There is no significant correlation with other selection test scores, size or location of college, major field of study or number of hours in which English has been studied. The conclusion: Colleges are graduating 10% of their students who are seriously deficient in writing.

Comment: Whenever someone says students can’t write, I wish they would define their terms. In what way, exactly, are the students deficient in writing? And don’t tell me they can’t write a good sentence. If you say that, how do you define “a good sentence”? Show me some examples of writing that is deficient. I think we have to be more precise in identifying what is wrong with the students’ writing if we are ever going to help the students correct their problems in writing. RayS.

Topic: Teachers' Response to Writing

10-second review: Teachers should describe the students’ writing and analyze, not judge.

Title: “The Language of Rhetoric.” LT Whipp. College Composition and Communication (February 1968), 15 – 21. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: Writing teachers must play many different roles in responding to their students’ writing. At some point, they have to judge, but the criteria must be clear. Describing and analyzing will be time consuming. Will it be helpful to the students? RayS.

Topic: Problem College Writers

10-second review: College freshmen wrote 26 themes of 250 words, a 1500- to 3000-word autobiography, and a 3,000-word research papers and several business and social letters.

Title: “A Study of Two Methods of Teaching English Composition to Retarded College Freshmen.” Unpublished PhD dissertation. Purdue University. 1952.

Comment: “Retarded?” Whew! That was a long time ago. But the idea of the study is worth exploring. It shows that intense and frequent writing produced effective results. Must have been year-long course. Note the two lengthy papers—autobiography and research papers and also business letters. More and more, I am becoming convinced that long papers will help students to produce better writing.

But I also use 10-minute essays in which students each day at the beginning of class write for ten minutes on a topic of their choice. That night I “correct”—literally—their mistakes in sentence structure, punctuation, usage and style. By style, I mean needlessly repeated words, including “there,” “it,” “get,” “thing” and clear reference of the demonstrative pronouns, “this,” “that,” “these” and those.” RayS.

Topic: Censorship

One-minute review: “Tolerance of an activity means endorsement.” Putting the authority to censor in the hands of local groups will mean chaos and many different “community” standards. The answer to objectionable material is to turn it off or don’t turn it on in the first place. If people don’t watch it, advertisers won’t support it.

Source: Daily Local News (West Chester, PA), (December 14, 1995), A12.

Comment: I don’t agree with the opening quote that tolerance means endorsement. Tolerance means something is available to audiences who do not include me. It’s known as freedom of speech. I can disagree and say so. I can choose to boycott the advertisers who support that with which I disagree. For example, I think that violence on TV and in video games does increase tolerance for violence and may be even an attraction to violence on the part of those who watch or participate in the games. I can condemn the depiction of violence, but as long as I live in a democracy, I am going to have to tolerate its depiction until the majority of people are persuaded by solid evidence that depicting violence leads to violent behavior. RayS.

Topic: Responsibility for Contents of E-mail, Web Sites, etc.

One-minute review: G-Mail, Hot Mail, Yahoo, Google, Bing search services, etc. are no more responsible for messages posted on their systems than book store owners for the contents of their books.

Source: Daily Local News (West Chester, PA), (December 2, 1994), A7.

Topic: Censoring Folktales

Ten-second review: Why are folktales censorable?

Quote: “The use of folktales, especially fairy tales, is somewhat controversial. Some disapprove ‘for moral and religious reasons, asserting that the craft and cunning that often help folk heroes achieve their purposes do not instill worthy ideals in children.’ Others contend that youngsters can and do differentiate between fantasy and realism and folk literature does not condone this kind of behavior; it merely shows that it exists.”

Source: CM Kirkton. “Once Upon a Time… Folk Tales and Storytelling.” 1025.

Comment: The issues is whether impressionable youngsters imitate the behavior of the characters in the books they read. RayS.